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 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:03 am Post subject: Tour de France |
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Tom Weaver
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:03 am Post subject: Re: Tour de France |
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Kenny Lee wrote:
| Quote: | Tom Weaver wrote:
When you get tired, just grab a seat at an outdoor cafe, order an
espresso, sit and watch the world walk by for an hour or more. It's a
great way to relax. We Americans can learn something from the French
about this.
Tom
You can sit for over an hour with one expresso? The expresso I had in
Italy had as much volumn as a thimble.
Kenny Lee
Ken, |
It's not about the espresso. There seems to be a much more relaxed
attitude about life in general. The French seem to think nothing of
ordering one espresso and sitting at the cafe for a couple hours.
An excellent idea, IMHO. |
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George
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 6:43 am Post subject: Re: What do u do with the bike boxes ? |
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For some time I've been collecting information on user
experiences taking bikes on planes, trains, buses, boats, etc.
There's lots of stuff on rentals, folding bikes, boxing,
airlines, and railroads around the world and how to ride in/out
of about 150 airports.
See it at http://www.BikeAccess.net
Several people have sent in notes about that. Most make a deal
with a nearby hotel for first and last night and keep the boxes
in between. I've done that myself. A very few airports may
still have left-luggage depots. Many RR stations do. I have
also just trashed a cardboard box and acquired another one for
the return or take the return "naked."
George
Dave Miller wrote:
| Quote: | WHile I've been on some long trips before I have always had someone to
pick me up, take care of the bike boxes, etc once I arrived and hold
till I left.
What do you rail/bus/plane savy folks do about with the boxes once
you've arrived as an "orphan" in a strange land?
Thanks |
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mrdna
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 8:16 am Post subject: Re: First Centry ride |
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Water, water, water.
More water.
Start very early in the morning, before daylight if possible.
Eat a huge, high fat, no carb breakfast.
More water
Bring toilet paper.
Don't eat carbs on the ride, they will screw up your liver and make you
hungry and tired.
Ride out 50 miles and coast back.
You will achieve your goal.
;) Markgo
"Tim B" <nobody@home.com> wrote in message
news:VHqJa.138$zE.43@fe1.columbus.rr.com...
| Quote: | I've only been riding my road bike for about a month. I ride 20-25 miles
daily, all on a rail trail bike path. Only about 11.5 mph average but it
gets the job done. There's a century ride 6 weeks from now near me,
billed
as a flat-to-rolling tour with lots of support and not a race. They
stop
5 times during the 100.
It seems to me that if I can ride 25 in the morning and be ok to go to
work
afterwards without a lot of noticeable pain, I should be able to have a
goal
of doing 20 five times in a row with rest breaks in between and be fine.
They have 10, 25, and 50 mile options, and I could bail from the 100 to
the
50 midway if I wanted to. I'm 44 without any health problems I can think
of
other than being about 250 pounds and that's coming off nicely with the
nice
calorie expenditure from cycling. And thinking about the century gives me
a
nice, seemly unattainable goal, and that works for me. Within a couple of
weeks I'll have appropriate shorts, shoes and shirts; the bike was
expensive
enough (Specialized Sequoia Sport, love it) that I skimped on the extras
for
the first month.
Here's my questions.
1. Am I nuts for thinking I can do this? My first inclination is to get
a
physical and explain what I'm up to, and presuming there's not a big
problem
there, go on.
2. If it seems ok, how can I train for this? My first inclination is to
do
a 50 every couple of weeks on the rail trail, not early in the morning but
later on in the day, 25 miles slightly uphill along a river, 25 miles back
slightly downhill, and if that is comfortably achievable, go on and do the
tour. Then in the days in between, work on getting up to about 14 mph, as
it looks like from the brochure that they figure about that, and work on
rolling hills.
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Greg Shannan
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 11:04 pm Post subject: Re: What do u do with the bike boxes ? |
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Dave:
This is what we have done:-
If you use a cardboard bike box (from your LBS), then the easiest thing is to
tear or cut it up and throw it out where you assemble the bike. On the return
either get another from a local LBS (you don't say where you are going, but
these are pretty thick on the ground), or use the plastic that airlines will
give you for the naked bike.
If you have a "real" bike box (i.e. one you want back), stay in a hotel the
first night. Call ahead and make sure this hotel will keep your bike boxes for
the duration and return to that hotel when you head off. Some camp sites may
well do this too.
I should point out that the cardboard bike boxes will only "probably" protect
your bike; i.e. expect the possibility of having to repair your bike when you
arrive.
.... Greg Shannan
<Dave Miller> wrote in message
news:vui1gv4toejokjle8j2isgk5c81h0n7g2f@4ax.com...
| Quote: |
WHile I've been on some long trips before I have always had someone to
pick me up, take care of the bike boxes, etc once I arrived and hold
till I left.
What do you rail/bus/plane savy folks do about with the boxes once
you've arrived as an "orphan" in a strange land?
Thanks |
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Ken Brown
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 12:54 am Post subject: Re: What do u do with the bike boxes ? |
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I had a tough time finding a box in my home city that was large
enough, because I have a 25" frame. With so many people riding MTB
there are not many boxes large enough. I was therefore concerned about
abandoning my box in Vienna - how would I find another in a city where
I do not know the stores?
Never-the-less I did abandon it because I was not staying overnight in
Vienna. When I arrived back 16 days later I found an excellent bike
shop and they gave me a large box. I thought it was too small but the
owner gave me a tip I had never been given in Toronto, turn the forks
backwards. I had known to remove the handlebars and front wheel, but
by removing the front fender and reversing the forks, the box does not
need to be as long.
Somebody else mentioned using a bag supplied by the airline. While
Austrial Airlines is bike-friendly and said they would take the bike
as-is, they did not have bags to supply. I believe some airlines
insist on boxes.
Ken
Dave Miller <> wrote:
| Quote: |
WHile I've been on some long trips before I have always had someone to
pick me up, take care of the bike boxes, etc once I arrived and hold
till I left.
What do you rail/bus/plane savy folks do about with the boxes once
you've arrived as an "orphan" in a strange land?
Thanks
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Ken Brown, Toronto Canada
Ontario Rail Trails: http://webhome.idirect.com/~brown
delete "nospam" if replying via e-mail |
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Peter
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 1:12 am Post subject: Re: 21.06.03. Mount Zavizan-Croatia Climb Report |
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Jacques, Mt Zavizan is in the Velebit mountain range, about 30 kilometers
south of Senj.
Other points of interest are Risjnak National Park north-east of Reijka and
Paklenica National Park near Zadar. I would not advise on cycling in the
summer mainly because of the temperature and the very busy road along the
coast, further inland minor roads are better because of the lack of traffic,
problem however is you have almost always have to go up over a mountainrange
+1000m ; Most climbs are pretty steep; The easier rides are on some of the
islands (but not on all islands). Check out
http://www.croatia.hr/home.php?setlang=de for info on the country.
Peter
"jacques" <jamnospam@bluewin.ch> wrote in message
news:pan.2003.06.28.10.55.14.387850@bluewin.ch...
| Quote: | On Thu, 26 Jun 2003 08:43:54 +0200, Rajko Malojcic wrote:
Mount Zavizan climb has been organized for the first time and an
illlustrated report can be found at www.senj.hr in "Hrvatski" page.
Anybody
wishing to repeat it can obtain information from malojcic@yahoo.com .
We are going to Croatia this summer for holidays (car, camping). Obviously
we will spend at least some time on the coast or on some island, and we
plan to go see the Plitvice lakes. There are two things I was wondering.
The first one (off topic for this NG) is whether there are other areas
inland that we should plan to visit. Note that we are camping, and that
camping guides indicate basically no camping grounds except on the coast.
The second one is whether we should take our bikes with us. I am a bike
fan but my wife and children are not, and it will be worth taking them
only if we can do nice and easy rides on quiet roads.
Thanks to any Croatian who could give me hints on these questions.
And by the way, in which area is Mount Zavizan ?
Jacques |
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Terry Morse
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 5:21 am Post subject: Re: Roll call for Sonora Pass 6/29/03 |
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"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:
| Quote: | OK, time to fess up, who was out there on Sonora Pass today? Saw a guy in a
Webcor jersey climbing up the east side, another guy out there on a
recumbent, and a number of others.
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Some of the folks you saw were on our ride. We were on the steep part of
Sonora Pass, riding east to west, around noon. Webcor jersey wearer was
Stefan Blum. He is a fast climber. A few minutes behind him was Lloyd
Chambers, in a plain olive greeen jersey. I was wearing a plain gold
jersey, and I may have been behind or ahead of Lloyd, since I passed him
part of the way up. Behind both of us was John Hofstader, wearing a grey
sleeveless jersey. Another rider was Kevin Flynn, wearing a
red/yellow/blue Solvang Century jersey. I'm not sure where in the order
he was.
We were doing the First Annual Kiss of Death Ride (it's my ride and
that's what I'm calling it). We started in Sonora on Saturday morning,
riding Highway 4 over Ebbetts Pass to Markleeville, where we had an al
fresco Italian dinner at Villa Gigli and spent the night at the J.
Marklee Toll House hotel. Sunday morning, we headed out at dawn from
Markleeville, over Monitor Pass, had a hot breakfast at the Meadowcliff
Restaurant near Coleville, rode the hot and windy 395 south to Sonora
Junction, over Sonora Pass, had lunch at the pass, rode back to Sonora
and our waiting cars. But before we drove home, we had a post-ride
dinner at Nanna's Restaurant.
Folks were tired by the end, but everyone agreed it was a fun ride.
We'll definitely do it again next year. Ride stats:
Day 1: 90 miles, 10,500' ascent
Day 2: 132 miles, 11,500' ascent
Total: 222 miles, 22,000' ascent
I'll post the photos as soon as I can add all the captions.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/ |
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Terry Morse
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 7:05 pm Post subject: Re: Roll call for Sonora Pass 6/29/03 |
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Terry Morse wrote:
| Quote: | We were doing the First Annual Kiss of Death Ride (it's my ride and
that's what I'm calling it). We started in Sonora on Saturday morning,
riding Highway 4 over Ebbetts Pass to Markleeville, where we had an al
fresco Italian dinner at Villa Gigli and spent the night at the J.
Marklee Toll House hotel. Sunday morning, we headed out at dawn from
Markleeville, over Monitor Pass, had a hot breakfast at the Meadowcliff
Restaurant near Coleville, rode the hot and windy 395 south to Sonora
Junction, over Sonora Pass, had lunch at the pass, rode back to Sonora
and our waiting cars. But before we drove home, we had a post-ride
dinner at Nanna's Restaurant.
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Photos from the ride are here:
http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/kod0306/index.html
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://www.terrymorse.com/bike/ |
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Dan
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 6:44 am Post subject: Re: First Centry ride |
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Tim,
I agree that you can do it just fine, if you train. I'm in the school of
thought that says you should gradually build up your miles. I'd jump to 40,
then 55, then about 70 on succeeding weekends, and do shorter rides during
the week. If you can do 65 or 70, you can do 100.
Practice riding on the road, in the rain, and in the wind, so that those
things won't faze you. As another poster said, plan to finish the ride, and
concentrate on how good you'll feel at the finish.
I'm a contrarian on one point. I try to keep my rest breaks fairly short
when I'm riding a century, except perhaps for a longer lunch break. If I
stop for longer than 15 or 20 minutes, I find that my legs get stiff and
sore. If I ride at a moderate pace, and take short breaks, I do better.
Besides, if you stop 5 times for 30 minutes each, that's 2 & 1/2 hours that
you'll be stopped.
Good luck, have fun, and let us know how it goes!
Dan |
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Raptor
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 7:28 am Post subject: Re: First Centry ride |
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I thought the advice to go low-carb high fat was a joke.
Dan wrote:
| Quote: | I'm a contrarian on one point. I try to keep my rest breaks fairly short
when I'm riding a century, except perhaps for a longer lunch break. If I
stop for longer than 15 or 20 minutes, I find that my legs get stiff and
sore. If I ride at a moderate pace, and take short breaks, I do better.
Besides, if you stop 5 times for 30 minutes each, that's 2 & 1/2 hours that
you'll be stopped.
|
Those sound about right to me. Just long enough to refuel and rearm,
then back on the road.
--
--
Lynn Wallace http://www.xmission.com/~lawall
"I'm not proud. We really haven't done everything we could to protect
our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security."
--Microsoft VP in charge of Windows OS Development, Brian Valentine. |
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Kevan Smith
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2003 7:44 am Post subject: Re: First Centry ride |
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On Wed, 02 Jul 2003 20:28:35 -0600, Raptor <me@attbi.com> from XMission
http://www.xmission.com/ wrote:
| Quote: | I thought the advice to go low-carb high fat was a joke.
Dan wrote:
I'm a contrarian on one point. I try to keep my rest breaks fairly short
when I'm riding a century, except perhaps for a longer lunch break. If I
stop for longer than 15 or 20 minutes, I find that my legs get stiff and
sore. If I ride at a moderate pace, and take short breaks, I do better.
Besides, if you stop 5 times for 30 minutes each, that's 2 & 1/2 hours that
you'll be stopped.
Those sound about right to me. Just long enough to refuel and rearm,
then back on the road.
|
Rest on a century? Why? It's only 100 miles! :)
--
http://home.sport.rr.com/cuthulu/ human rights = peace
Should I start with the time I SWITCHED personalities with a BEATNIK
hair stylist or my failure to refer five TEENAGERS to a good OCULIST?
9:43:57 PM 2 July 2003 |
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Brent Hugh
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:53 pm Post subject: Re: Rail Trails under fire in U.S. Senate, time to write you |
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bhugh@mwsc.edu (Brent Hugh) wrote in message news:<b2f48572.0307031014.698d0217@posting.google.com>...
| Quote: | I received the following message today, asking Missouri cyclists to
call or write Senator Bond and ask him to withdraw his amendment to
Section 1617 that would effectively stop rails-to-trails and
railbanking.
You can find contact information for U.S. Senators here:
http://www.senate.gov/
|
Below is a summary of the issue from the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
that has a little better handle on the details. You can find this, a
list of suggested messages to send to Congress, the actual text of the
Section, and other related info at
http://www.mobikefed.org/comments.php?105724982538941559
Please note that this may affect already completed trails as
well--under the proposed Section 1617, if a state accepts federal
money for trail maintenance or improvement, then it also must accept
the liability for any property rights suits.
--------------
Background Information
Railbanking, Rail-Trails and Section 1716 of SAFETEA
Provided by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, July 1, 2003
There are nearly 12,500 miles of open rail-trail in the United States.
Another 16,760 miles are in development, with communities in every
state awaiting their construction. The enormous popularity of trails
is fueled by their ability to generate civic pride and economic
prosperity by catalyzing small business growth, promoting tourism and
increasing property values. Rail-trails enhance livability by
improving air and water quality, and preserving natural, cultural and
historical resources. They also create healthy people and communities
by making it easy and fun to get outside for exercise, transportation
and recreation.
The driving policy force behind this huge movement is two pieces of
federal legislation: 1) the 1983 railbanking provisions of the
National Trails Systems Act allowing unused railroad corridors to be
preserved for possible rail reactivation if managed on an interim
basis as trails and 2) the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program
included in federal transportation legislation since 1991 which has
provided more than $530 million for rail-trail acquisition and
development. Specifically, 4,334 miles of rail corridor have been
railbanked; 1,611 miles of railbanked corridor are open to the public
(85 trails); and over $115 million in Transportation Enhancements
dollars have been devoted to railbanked rail-trails.
On Sept. 30, 2003, current federal surface transportation
legislation, TEA-21 expires. It is currently undergoing congressional
renewal or "reauthorization."
The Bush Administration's proposed transportation bill, introduced in
both the House and the Senate as part of the Safe and Flexible
Transportation Equity Act, "SAFETEA," includes a provision, Section
1617, captioned indemnification on Certain Railbanked Projects. This
provision was included in the transportation bill at the request of
the U. S. Department of Justice. Its purpose is to stop states from
using TE or any other federal dollars for railbanked trails. It does
so by requiring them to reimburse the federal government for any such
investment, plus attorneys' fees, if such a corridor is the subject of
a winning takings claim. Its affect would be to stop railbanking in
its tracks.
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy strongly opposes Section 1617 of SAFETEA.
This provision would render railbanking useless as a tool for corridor
preservation and interim trail use.
--------------
Brent Hugh
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu
http://www.mobikefed.org |
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NY Rides
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:07 pm Post subject: Re: 50 -60 mile bike ride around Washington DC |
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Suggestion: If you want to ride around DC, don't bring your car, as parking
(and driving) can be a nightmare. My wife and I took a train from a suburb
called, I believe, Greenbelt, and then did a ride around the major
monuments. It seems you want something a little longer and more
challenging, though.
--
Low-Impact Rides In The LI/NY Area
www.geocities.com/NYRides
"David" <dherlt@sc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:N5iNa.233367$jp.6119422@twister.southeast.rr.com...
| Quote: | We are driving from SC to Buffalo via Albany NY for the Fanny Ride in mid
July. We would like to do a 50 to 60 mile ride along the way. We have road
bikes with fairly narrow tires so prefer a paved trail. We will be
travelling on I95. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave
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George
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:38 pm Post subject: Re: 50 -60 mile bike ride around Washington DC |
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There are several long paved trails in Virginia leading downtown.
The Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) rail-trail runs about 50
miles from Purcellville out near the Skyline Drive into Arlington
with a spur to the city along I66 and a connection to the Mount
Vernon trail at Roosevelt Island in Rosslyn.
Contrariwise you could start at Mt Vernon (lots of free parking)
and ride up the Potomac to Alexandria and DC -- about 20 miles
one way I guess.
David wrote:
| Quote: | We are driving from SC to Buffalo via Albany NY for the Fanny Ride in mid
July. We would like to do a 50 to 60 mile ride along the way. We have road
bikes with fairly narrow tires so prefer a paved trail. We will be
travelling on I95. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Dave
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